Landlords, What Are Your Wildest Tenant Stories?

Summary

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast: Episode Summary

Title: Landlords, What Are Your Wildest Tenant Stories?
Release Date: November 20, 2024
Host: Dave Meyer
Guests: Henry Washington, Samantha

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Introduction to Tenant Tales

In this engaging episode of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast, host Dave Meyer sits down with guests Henry Washington and Samantha to delve into the most outrageous, challenging, and heartwarming tenant stories from their experiences as landlords. The conversation highlights the unpredictable nature of real estate investing and the importance of effective tenant screening and management.

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Crazy Tenant Encounters

Dave’s Unexpected House Hacking Horror [00:00 - 05:04]

Dave kicks off the discussion with a harrowing account of his house hacking experience five years into his real estate career. Operating out of a modest one-bedroom apartment, Dave discovered an unexpected guest when he heard noises and found a woman asleep on his couch.

Dave [02:13]: "It is very not cool."

Despite thinking she might be his tenant, C.J., Dave realized something was amiss when he noticed signs like cigarettes he didn’t smoke. The situation escalated, forcing Dave to call the police to remove the intruder, marking it as his worst house hacking experience.

Samantha [04:07]: "I'm not playing that game. I'm so sorry."

Samantha empathizes with Dave’s predicament, sharing that her immediate response in a similar situation would be to lock herself in and let authorities handle the intruder without personal interaction.

Dave’s Neighborly Nightmare [14:58 - 19:25]

Later, Dave shares a coincidental story about former tenants from a unit above his who frequented the property for parties. Despite maintaining a friendly relationship, issues arose when the tenants failed to clean upon moving out, leading to a confrontation over an $800 cleaning fee. Years later, in a twist of fate, one of these tenants appeared at Dave’s party in Amsterdam to apologize, showcasing the unpredictable and sometimes serendipitous nature of landlord-tenant relationships.

Dave [19:05]: "Just bluff that the cops are on their way. And you can stop parties that way."

This story underscores the importance of maintaining good relationships while also setting firm boundaries to manage tenant behavior effectively.

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Lessons from Challenging Situations

Samantha’s Identity Theft Tenant Saga [05:33 - 11:48]

Samantha recounts a complex situation involving a tenant who had stolen another person's identity to secure the lease. Initially appearing as a respectful paralegal named Samantha Suarez, the tenant exhibited suspicious behavior with rent payments that repeatedly failed due to fraudulent ACH transactions. It wasn’t until a real Samantha Suarez contacted them that the deceit was uncovered.

Samantha [08:50]: "I think she prevented something and this was just like a good test for me."

This incident highlights the critical need for thorough verification processes and the vigilance required in tenant screening to prevent identity fraud and protect property management interests.

Samantha’s Troubling Tenant Experience [19:38 - 27:21]

Another significant story from Samantha involves renting to a single father who brought multiple children into a two-bedroom apartment. Despite initial positive signs, ongoing issues with noise, smells, and eventually non-payment of rent led to an eviction process that revealed deplorable living conditions, including unsanitary practices left by the tenants.

Samantha [25:02]: "It's disgusting and terrible."

This experience taught Samantha the importance of strict adherence to tenant agreements and the necessity of not overlooking red flags, even when personal empathy for tenants’ situations is involved.

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Uplifting Tenant Success

Samantha’s Felon Tenant Redemption [35:31 - 39:05]

Balancing the earlier tough stories, Samantha shares an inspiring narrative about renting to a convicted felon who had served 12 years in federal prison for a non-violent drug offense. Frustrated by continuous application rejections and drained financially by application fees, the tenant finally found hope through Samantha and her wife, who decided to give him a chance.

Samantha [36:04]: "He was just genuinely saddened that people weren't having any faith in him."

This tenant has since thrived, maintaining timely rent payments and even forming a supportive community within the property by assisting an elderly neighbor. His success story exemplifies the positive impact landlords can have by extending trust and opportunities to those striving for a fresh start.

Dave [38:53]: "Sometimes good business is just being reasonable with your tenants."

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Host’s Personal Story of Tenant Kindness

Dave’s DIY Disaster Rescued by Tenants [31:45 - 35:31]

Returning to Dave, he shares a personal anecdote from his early days as a landlord. Attempting to save money, Dave undertook the construction of a faulty staircase himself, leading to several days of unsuccessful labor. Miraculously, one of his tenants’ fathers noticed his struggles and built the staircase for him, showcasing the unexpected kindness and community spirit that can flourish between landlords and tenants.

Dave [34:50]: "He was just like, 'You're a young guy trying your best...'"

This story not only highlights the potential for positive interactions but also underscores the importance of building strong, respectful relationships with tenants.

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Closing Thoughts and Takeaways

Throughout the episode, Dave and Samantha emphasize the dual nature of real estate investing as both a business and a people-centric endeavor. They discuss the delicate balance between making sound financial decisions and exhibiting empathy towards tenants, noting that long-term success often stems from treating tenants with respect and understanding.

Dave [40:44]: "Good business is just being reasonable with your tenants."

Samantha adds that while personal connections can enhance landlord-tenant relationships, maintaining professional boundaries and diligent screening processes are essential to mitigate risks and ensure property integrity.

Samantha [26:13]: "We need to be more diligent about making sure and following up to see who's actually living there."

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Conclusion

This episode of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast serves as a compelling reminder of the unpredictable yet rewarding nature of managing rental properties. Through a series of vivid tenant stories, Dave, Henry, and Samantha provide valuable insights into the challenges and triumphs faced by landlords, offering listeners both cautionary tales and inspiring success stories. Whether dealing with fraudulent activities or witnessing genuine acts of kindness, the episode underscores the importance of vigilance, empathy, and integrity in the realm of real estate investing.

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Notable Quotes:

• Dave [02:13]: "It is very not cool."
• Samantha [04:07]: "I'm not playing that game. I'm so sorry."
• Dave [19:05]: "Just bluff that the cops are on their way. And you can stop parties that way."
• Samantha [08:50]: "I think she prevented something and this was just like a good test for me."
• Samantha [25:02]: "It's disgusting and terrible."
• Samantha [36:04]: "He was just genuinely saddened that people weren't having any faith in him."
• Dave [34:50]: "He was just like, 'You're a young guy trying your best...'"
• Dave [40:44]: "Good business is just being reasonable with your tenants."
• Samantha [26:13]: "We need to be more diligent about making sure and following up to see who's actually living there."

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This summary encapsulates the essence of the episode, providing a comprehensive overview of the tenant stories shared, the lessons learned, and the emotional journeys experienced by the hosts and guests. Whether you're a seasoned landlord or new to real estate investing, these narratives offer valuable perspectives on managing tenant relationships effectively.

Transcript

[Dave]

Real estate is a people business. But people being people, they're going to.

[Henry]

Do some crazy things in your properties.

[Dave]

Hey everyone, it's Dave and I'm back here with Henry Washington. Henry. Today we're going to talk about tenants. So my first story is, I don't even know why I'm telling this story because I'm basically just going to give everyone who thinks that house hacking is a bad idea because you have to share a wall with your tenant. I'm going to make all their worst dreams good, their wor. Nightmares come true, I think. I don't know. So I was, I was house hacking. This is like five years into my investing career. It was like this little one bedroom, like 600 square foot. It was a nice apartment though, in a cut up old house. There was a main unit and then a basement unit. And I was just sleeping one morning and woke up in my apartment and just heard some noise. Like it sounded like someone was in my apartment. And I'm pretty casual about these things. So I was just like, oh, whatever. I was tired. I just like rolled over and I was like, okay, whatever. That probably isn't someone in my apartment. I go back to sleep and like a minute or two later I hear the toilet flushing and I'm like, what? Okay, that's pretty weird. This is not that big an apartment. There's only one bathroom. And I'm like, oh, it must be Jane, who's my girlfriend at the time, but we weren't. My current wife, but we weren't living together at the time. And I kind of like all of a sudden snapped to and I was like, jane didn't stay over here last night. And so I'm like, someone is in my apartment. And I just like looking around my apartment. I'm like in my boxers and I like found. So you know, I like camping. So I pulled out like my camping knife and I'm like stalking around my apartment and I walk out into the living room and there's just this woman, fully clothed, asleep, face down on my, on my couch. And I'm like, what is this person doing? And like I. So I went over to her and I just like started like shaking her and I was like, hello? And she was like, leave me alone. And I was like, no, you're in my house. You have to get up. And she was like, no, man, it's cool, it's cool. I was like, no, it is not cool. You can't be sleeping in my apartment right now.

[Samantha]

It is very not cool.

[Dave]

It's Very not cool. So it's going on for me, like, you know, a minute or two. And finally she's like, no, no, man, it's cool. C.J. said I could sleep over. And I was like, oh, my God. C.J. is my tenant who lives in the basement. And I'm, like, looking around my apartment, and I see she had just left cigarettes and a lighter on my floor. And I don't smoke cigarettes. And so I was like, oh, she must have gone outside to smoke or something. You know, like, gone outside and come back in the wrong door because she was still hammered. Like, you could smell it on her breath. And so I guess I. In retrospect, I learned that the latch on my door, like, kind of was, like, off, and if you pushed it really hard, it would open. I fixed this later, but didn't know that at the time. But the funny thing is, like, I was like. Like, she wouldn't leave. I had to call the police to come because, like, I was like, I don't want it. You know, I'm not going to touch her. I'm not going to, like, physically remove from the house. Yeah. So I was like, I'm calling the police. She's like, yeah, whatever. She was still so drunk. I was just like, call the police. So the cops came and. And. And physically removed her. And they're like, do you want to press charges? And I said, no, obviously. And I went and talked to my tenants, and let's just say that wasn't the only problem I had with those tenants. But luckily, no. No one was harmed. No one else was there. But that was probably the worst house hacking landlord experience I had.

[Samantha]

You did more than I would have, buddy. I'm not. I'm not playing that game. I'm so sorry. I. I'm in Arkansas. I walk out into my living room, and there's a lady laying on the couch. I'm just gonna go lock myself in my room and call the police. I'm gonna let them deal with it. I don't know her. I didn't touch her. I didn't talk to her. I don't know nothing about nothing. You take care of this.

[Dave]

Yeah, in retrospect, that is true. I probably should have done that. I was just so surprised. Like, it was just so weird. And thankfully, nothing happened. But I think that was the worst. Living in the same building as my tenant story. Even though it wasn't my tenants, they clearly were doing something weird. If that was the result, I don't know.

[Samantha]

I think everybody, at some point if you've ever partaken of Alcoma hall at some point has had a story where either you or somebody, you know, walked into the wrong house. Apartment building.

[Dave]

I wouldn't dream. Yeah. But it was just funny because it was the next morning at like 9. It was like 9:00am, you know, it's like. Anyway, so that was my don't, don't not house hack because of that. It was also my fault because I didn't realize that my lock was broken. But it was.

[Samantha]

And like, you got a drunk person test them.

[Dave]

Yeah, it's true. Putting like all of your weight against it and just like slamming against it.

[Samantha]

Well, you need to thank her because she might have stopped an actual burglar.

[Dave]

That's a really good point. Maybe she prevented something and this was just like a good test for me. All right, so that's my first story of me not securing my own property and luckily getting out of that situation without any serious trouble. Henry, what's your first tenant story you want to share?

[Samantha]

Well, my first tenant story is the case of the stolen identity. So we had a tenant who applied to live in our unit.

[Dave]

This is like a Scooby Doo episode I like.

[Samantha]

Yeah, yeah, yes, yes. They applied to live in this unit. And I would normally keep names out to protect the innocent, but this person who applied name was Samantha Suarez. And Samantha Suarez passed a background check. She was very friendly. She was. Seemed very respectable. And so we said, have at it. She moved in and within.

[Dave]

Wait, can I ask a question?

[Samantha]

Sure.

[Dave]

Did you meet her in person? Was this. Was this on the phone? Was it digitally?

[Samantha]

Nope. Met her in person.

[Dave]

Okay, now I'm even more intrigued.

[Samantha]

Seemed like a decent person. Passed a background check, was a paralegal, she moved in, and then within a couple of months, she started having issues with payments. But when we would send her the, you know, three or five day notice to just let her know, hey, your rent's due, she would have very reasonable excuses. And she would even say, hey, I can get you paid by this much. And she would make like a little payment plan and timeline, and then she would pay by the timeline. But what would happen is she'd pay, it would go through, and then the ach process would then drag out and then it would get rejected. And so. But that process takes several days.

[Dave]

Yep.

[Samantha]

And so then we'd have to reach back out and say, hey, your payment failed. And she'd be like, oh, yeah, sorry, I'll try again. And then it would happen again. And then by the time we Come around to it. The next month is due. Right. And so we said, hey, I understand things are an issue, but we really got to get you caught up. And since you were having trouble with the ach, why don't you just pay us in person? And so we met her in person, and she paid us cash, but it wasn't as much as she needed to pay, but she gave us some cash. And so things were getting a little weird, but she was essentially, once they make a payment, whether it's full or partial payment, you as a landlord are saying, hey, I'm. I'm allowing you to stay. Right. And so we couldn't just evict her because she's made a partial payment. And she did seem to have reasonable excuses, and she did look like she was trying to make efforts to pay. And so, you know, I wasn't going to put her out if she's trying to make efforts to pay, as long as she gets caught up. Well, things were still getting a little fishy, and I wasn't liking it. And then I was out shopping. My wife and I were out shopping for a dress for her for an event, and I got a phone call, and it was a lady saying that she was Samantha Suarez.

[Dave]

What?

[Samantha]

And I was like, like, my tenant. And she was like, no, I'm Samantha Suarez. Someone has stolen my identity. And we were like, what? She was like, I think it's the person living in your house. And so they wanted us to call the police. And I'm like, well, like, you need to call the police.

[Dave]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Samantha]

I don't know who to call.

[Dave]

How'd she even get your number?

[Samantha]

I don't know. I think she found it online. I don't know. She had some line on this lady living there and found my phone number, called me to tell me that the lady living in my house wasn't Samantha Suarez, and she was Samantha Suarez. And I was like, okay, I like, well, you need to call the police, because I don't know what's going on. And the police are going to have to be the ones that are sorting it out.

[Dave]

Yeah. It's not like you're. You're a detective and configure.

[Samantha]

Right. But you know who is a detective? My wife. And so my wife was like, I'm going to get to the bottom of this thing. And so she started doing reverse image searches and started seeing different names, and then would confront the lady about the names and the pictures, and she would say, oh, that's my sister. And that opened up this whole can of worms. And we started to reconsider everything we knew about this lady.

[Dave]

Oh, my God.

[Samantha]

Then we started to look at the letters she had given us about her employment. And the letters and all these things turned out to be completely fraudulent. And so we sent it all to the police, and they opened up an investigation. And as my wife was searching, she then found a mugshot of this lady who was our tenant. But it wasn't her name. It wasn't the Samantha Suarez name. And so we finally were able to get an eviction processed. And as we were filing the eviction, what took so long is she was fighting the eviction on her own because she was a paralegal and had some legal background. And our attorney even said, like, I'm really impressed by, like, what she's doing to fight this case.

[Dave]

Wait, so she was. She made up the name part, but was actually a paralegal?

[Samantha]

Yes.

[Dave]

So she was still, like, half the identity?

[Samantha]

Yeah, Right, Right.

[Dave]

Just the name. Okay, interesting. I guess that's probably a good tactic.

[Samantha]

Yeah, she was holding it off long enough to keep her in there for a little bit, but eventually she lost the case, and we were able to get in there with the sheriff. And when we got in there, we show up. The AC unit has been taken apart. All the copper is out of it. We found miracle medical marijuana cards in there with. With different names on them.

[Dave]

I mean, isn't that. Isn't that a felony?

[Samantha]

Yeah, I mean, of course, this lady's committed lots of felonies, apparently.

[Dave]

Did she get arrested?

[Samantha]

I don't know. She was gone.

[Dave]

Is it just because the eviction court and the criminal court are different, so, like, completely doesn't get passed along.

[Samantha]

Exactly. They weren't there to arrest her. They were there just to evict her. And so. But she was long gone.

[Dave]

Yeah. And I guess you don't have standing.

[Henry]

Right.

[Dave]

That actual Samantha Suarez would need to press charges. Right. For the.

[Samantha]

No. Correct.

[Dave]

Felony part of it. You were just doing eviction.

[Samantha]

Correct. But we found out who she really is, and we gave all that information to the authorities. And so, Samantha Suarez, if you are listening, we do know who stole your identity, so hopefully that could help you in some way.

[Dave]

Oh, poor Samantha. Poor real Samantha Suarez. That's a terrible story. But good for your wife for figuring that out.

[Samantha]

Yeah, she was not playing games.

[Dave]

That must be so strange to have that confrontation.

[Samantha]

Yeah, it was super weird.

[Dave]

All right, that is a crazy story. I've never had that. And I honestly, I guess if someone, like, really stole all the information that's kind of hard to guard against. Right. Like, if someone really, like, had your Social Security number and knew this stuff about you, like, maybe that could happen. That's kind of scary. But glad that it all got it resolved.

[Samantha]

Yeah. The identity she applied with was a solid identity. It was a great credit and background check. Like, I don't know what else I could have done there.

[Dave]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Samantha]

All right, it's time for a break. We'll be back with a few more of these crazy landlording stories on the other side.

[Henry]

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[Samantha]

Thanks for sticking with us. Here's more of me and Dave talking tenants.

[Dave]

All right, well, I have a very crazy story for you. This is not just a crazy tenant, landlord, real estate investing story. I feel like this is just a crazy coincidental story. So I told you a little bit already about I was house hacking this apartment and that below me was this big beautiful like four or five bedroom apartment. And for the whole time I was house hacking and years after, there's this group of women similar age to me at the time who lived there and we were all really friendly. Like we didn't, you know, hang out all the time, but like, you know, if we were having a beer in the backyard, they'd come sit down kind of thing. And they wound up actually living there for I think three or four years minimum. And like towards the end they were getting a little, you know, they were taking advantage. I think of me a little bit like they're moving their friends friends in and out of different bedrooms without letting me know. And I kind of let it slide because they're all pretty Cool. They always paid rent, they took care of the apartment. I was kind of like, whatever. So then eventually they moved out of the apartment and they just didn't clean it. And I was pretty annoyed by it because, like, I thought we were all pretty cool. And I just sent them a text and I was like, hey, I'm going to hire professional cleaners to clean it. It's expensive. It's like a 3,000 square foot unit. So it's like, cost like 800 bucks. And I charged it to them. I took it out of their deposit and they got super mad. Even though I documented all of it. There was like milk in the fridge, you know, it was just like, it was gross. There was just food everywhere. They just didn't clean it up. And so they like, threatened to take me to small claims court to reclaim that $800. And it just kind of turned nasty. This is really the only time I've ever had this in my landlording career where it sort of turned nasty. And I was kind of bummed about it because we all, all got along well. And I have a pretty good track record, I think, of having good relationships with my tenants. And so it always, like, didn't sit right with me. Fast forward a few years. I moved to Amsterdam, and I'm just chatting with a friend of a friend, and he's like, I was telling him I own these properties in Denver. He was like, I know that apartment. And turns out he was friends with a couple of these women. And we were just kind of laughed about. I told them the story. Fast forward again to just this past summer. My wife and I had a summer party and we invited. The guy was a friend of a friend. We've become friends. And in. He comes to my party this summer and brings the woman that I had had this spat with and who was threatening to sue me. And she just, like, walked into my apartment in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam this year. This is 10 years later. This is 10 years later. And, like, I'm looking at her and she's like, I. Because I think my friend Joe, like, told her that we were going here. And she was like, walked up to me and I just started laughing because, like, who cares at this point? And I was like, oh, my God, what are you doing here? And she was like, oh, my God. I wanted to tell you I'm so sorry for what happened. I don't know what got over me. You were always so cool to us and like, all this stuff. And I was like, oh, don't worry about it. Like, it's all so great. She wound up like staying at her party for like four hours. We were like drinking together until like three hours of the morning. We had this like, great closure moment 10 years after the original event. So I don't know why, I just love that story. It was so great.

[Samantha]

Well, first of all, the what are the chances? Party in Amsterdam.

[Henry]

Right?

[Samantha]

But you got your tenant closure. That's sweet.

[Dave]

Yes, it was sweet.

[Samantha]

So now you can still say I'm a great landlord and I've never had an issue.

[Dave]

I think so. I did have some problems with inherited tenants, but not ones that I actually properly screened, but it was actually pretty funny. So my buddy, the guy who connected us the first time, he was like, dude, we used to throw some. Some parties at that house. And I was like, yeah, I know, I lived upstairs. Like, I could hear them. And he was like, yeah, man, the cops used to always get called. I was like, no, they didn't. He was like, yeah, they never showed up. But like, I heard the cops were called. And really what was going on is like, I was pretty cool with it. I was, you know, 26 at this time, so I was going out. But, you know, at 2 or 3 in the morning, when I was ready to go to sleep, I would just call my tenant and be like, like, the cops just called. They said they're on their way. Like, can you just shut down the music and the party? Like, and I'll tell the cops not to come. And they'd be like, yeah, okay.

[Samantha]

But I was just like, totally waking.

[Dave]

It up every time because I wanted to go to sleep.

[Samantha]

Professional house hacking tip right there, folks.

[Dave]

Yeah, there you go. Just bluff that the cops are on their way. And you can stop parties that way.

[Samantha]

You stop the party and you get to save face. Look at you. Look at you.

[Dave]

Exactly.

[Samantha]

Everyone was creative solutions.

[Henry]

Yeah.

[Dave]

So. Well, I guess both of mine so far are kind of like, kind of funny. But obviously not all tenant stories are funny. So. Do you have any stories, Henry, that you've learned something important from?

[Samantha]

Yeah, absolutely I do. Let me tell you about this tenant situation we had where didn't end up going very well, but we definitely learned a lesson. So we had a tenant apply to live. And it was a two bedroom, one bath apartment. It was over by the university. And so typically we have students that lived there, but this guy was a single male and he had one child. Financially, he seemed to check out in terms of his employment and his background check. And so we rented the place to him. And as we Fast forward, we started to hear that there was a woman there all the time, and there was no woman on the application. And so we always get an application and a background check from anyone over the age of 18 who will be living in the property. And so when we found out that this woman was spending a lot of time there, we were like, hey, we know you got a girlfriend. We need her to apply. So she took a while to apply.

[Dave]

How long's a while?

[Samantha]

Oh, man. We probably sent her the application and it took her about a month and a half before she actually filled it out.

[Dave]

All right, so you let it. You let it slide for a little while.

[Samantha]

Yeah, we were. We were. We were. We were lacking in a lot of areas.

[Dave]

Okay.

[Samantha]

So she finally filled it out, and it was not great, but. But not enough for us to say, hey, you guys need to move out. But that was kind of the first red flag that she was living there. And then we started to get complaints about noise from children. And we were like, well, we thought there was only one kid, but apparently she had several kids and he had more than one kid. And so this is a two bedroom apartment. So there was at least four kids living there and the two adults.

[Dave]

Oh, my God.

[Samantha]

And so that should have been enough for us to go ahead and put them out, but. But, you know, there's kids living there and they need this space. And the complaints weren't like, that bad, you know, like. So we really just kind of lollygagged about that.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Samantha]

And then we started to get complaints about smells and both bad smells and marijuana smells. And so we were like, hey, well, we can't have you smoking inside. And so we talked to him about the smoking inside multiple times. But this carried on for maybe, I don't know, four or five months of the smell. Somebody would complain, we'd tell them to stop it, things would stop, and then a couple and a month or so later, it would start again.

[Dave]

Who was complaining? Other people. Was it a multifamily?

[Samantha]

Yes, it's an apartment building. And so the unit above was complaining because of the smoke smell, would get into the H vac and all that stuff. Again, none of this seemed like enough for us to just say, hey, you gotta go. Right. And. But then they stopped paying. And when they stopped paying, we started to chat with them about that, and then they just wouldn't make payments. And so we started the eviction process. And the eviction process drug out really long because what would happen is they kept telling us, hey, we have a new place. To live. We're just waiting on XYZ to get out or XYZ to get approved. And then they would send us text message screenshots from the other property manager that showed that, hey, your unit's not ready yet. We need a couple more days and then you can move in. And so, like, these look like legit screenshots. But one of them, finally they sent me and I saw the name on the screenshot and I was like, hey, I know that property manager. She manages for another landlord that I know. And so I had this internal debate, like, do I reach out and tell them, hey, these people haven't been great.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Samantha]

Or do I just let it ride and let them get out of my property?

[Dave]

Well, that's one of the biggest conundrums and sort of misalignment of incentives in this industry. Right. Because if you have a bad tenant, they're like, I'm going to leave. And then that other property manager calls you for reference. You're kind of like, well, I want them out of here. But you also want to be honest. It's definitely a dilemma.

[Samantha]

Yeah, well, you know, I like to operate from a place of integrity. And so I called him and I was like, hey, bud, you guys are interviewing so? And so I just want to talk to you about what's going on with them in my place. And they said, oh, yeah, we talked to them, but we told them no immediately. And I was like, what do you mean? They're showing me screenshots of you guys saying you have a unit ready for them. They're like, no, we rejected them immediately. And I was like, what? And so that's when I was like, okay, they're forging these screenshots. They really don't, you know, they're just trying to just get places to stay. And so finally we had to go full board with the eviction process. And so it got down to the point where the sheriff had to come and get them out. And so the day the sheriff showed up, they happened to already be out. And so the sheriff gets to the door and my sister in law's with him because we were managing the property on earth. This time, my sister in law's with him. The sheriff gets to the door and he tells my sister in law, he's like, you know what? I'm going to need you to wait outside. I smell something that smells like a dead body. He was like, I was doing this a long time. I know what a dead body smells like. And so he didn't let her go in and so he goes in, clears the place. There's nobody in there. There's no dead body. But what there is is just piles of human poop in the corner of the living room. They were just using the bathroom in the living room and it wasn't recent. There was just lots. Yeah, lots of human poop in the corner of the living room. There were kids living. Oh, four kids.

[Dave]

Where'd they go?

[Samantha]

Oh, I don't know. I don't know where they went.

[Dave]

It's disgusting and terrible.

[Samantha]

Yeah. So my sister in law walked in, immediately starts vomiting. So she goes outside and starts vomiting. So we had to get serve pro in there and do like a full, like, what do you call it? Make sure that it's all, you know, sanitary and done properly.

[Dave]

So we had to get that sterilized. Clean.

[Samantha]

Sterilized, yeah. Had to redo the floors, had to paint that. Paint the whole house. It was, it was a lot. And you know, the part of the story that makes me the most angry is that there were kids living there in those conditions, man. Because it wasn't like they just were doing that to spite me.

[Dave]

Yeah. I just feel so terrible for those kids.

[Samantha]

That stuff had been there for a while.

[Dave]

And so that is both, both traumatic and really sad.

[Samantha]

And it's tough, right, because like part of the reason that we ran into them is because we felt bad for the single dad who couldn't really find a place to live and then we let him live there and then we drugged the process out because there was kids there and we didn't want to put everybody out. And at the end of the day, right, we have a business to run and we learn we have to be more diligent in our, in our background checks. We can't just believe a screenshot that's sent to us. Right. We need to actually call the number on there or call the name on there and see if things are legit. Right?

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Samantha]

We need to be more diligent about making sure and following up to see who's actually living there, you know, because we had two adults living there and one of them wasn't on the application. And they, you know, they, they obviously did that on purpose because when we saw her application, had they applied with her in the beginning, we probably wouldn't have rented to them. And so they were trying to circumvent the system. The red flag that came up for her is she had an eviction on her record. And so like, should we have evicted them when we found out she had an eviction before, probably, but knowing they had small kids there, we just, you know, and they were paying at that time. It was hard for me to just say, you know what, you should, you should leave with your kids. You know, it was tough. So we have to be more diligent. We can't trust everything we have to trust but verify. You just have to have a solid landlording background and screening process that you follow every single time the same way, regardless of what the story is.

[Dave]

Of that 10 that that's the real thing about. You know, we always talk about this, but prevention is so much better than dealing with it. Once people are always living there. It gets really sticky and really challenging with those kinds of situations. Yeah, well, literally sticky in the situation.

[Samantha]

But yeah, literally sticky. Sticky and stinky in this situation.

[Dave]

Yes, that's right. We have to take a break, but stick around because coming up, Henry has one of the more uplifting tenant stories I've ever heard. Do you want to invest in cash.

[Henry]

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[Samantha]

Welcome back folks. I'm here with Dave on the Biggerpockets Real Estate podcast.

[Dave]

I'll actually tell you a story in case you probably haven't listened to. The first time I was a guest on this podcast when it was like my first year working at Biggerpockets, I told this story but retell it. So my first property I bought was this four unit and I was a year out of college. I was not, I did not grow up handy. Like I wasn't fixing stuff and this property, you know, It's. I was 80 years old at the time and needed some work and I just decided I could teach myself because I was self managing and I wanted to save some money because all the money that was spending on contractors could have gone towards my rent. I was still renting at the times before I was house hacking. And basically when the inspection happened, there was this railing and staircase that needed to be built in the backyard that goes out to the parking lot and I decided I would build it myself because I'm an idiot and didn't realize that building a staircase is incredibly difficult. You're so hard and no business doing it like I started with. I'm sure for someone who's experienced they could do it pretty easily, but for someone who hadn't done that much with power tools in his life, I probably bit off more that I could share. So I went to the pawn shop and bought some tools because actually pawn shops have pretty good tools. They have the best tools. And so I went to the pawn shop, bought some tools like watch some YouTube videos, got the supplies at Home Depot and sat out there just trying to build this staircase and just failing just so miserably over and over again. And so I'm there for like four hours the first day. Second day I come back and spent like six hours just failing again. I think I did this for like three or four days in a row. And then the final day I show up and I pull into the parking lot and there's just this beautiful immaculately built staircase out there and I'm like, what the heck just happened? And I'm like sitting out there like amazed, like you Just saw like a leprechaun or something. It's just like I was so. Just taken back by this situation and I'm just staring at it. And my tenant, who I just placed, they were brand new, walked out of the back door and comes up to me and she goes, my dad was over visiting yesterday and he was watching you and he just felt so bad for you that he just built this staircase for you. I was like, oh my God, you're amazing. Let me reimburse you for this. And I paid him back for the materials that he incurred, but he was just like, you're a young guy trying your best, you know, try to hustle and be an entrepreneur. I thought I'd help you out. It was so nice. It was such a wonderful thing for that person to do, but also so embarrassing. I could not look at my tenant, like for the rest of their tenancy, it was two sisters and they lived there for two or three years. I had no authority with them, you know, like my credibility was absolutely nothing. And so. But luckily they were cool and we all got along pretty well.

[Samantha]

But he felt terrible for you, you.

[Dave]

Yeah, yeah, so. Which was very kind.

[Samantha]

He saw what a wreck it was and was just blown away that he was like, this is just a normal 20 something year old man trying his best.

[Dave]

Yeah, exactly. Yes. What a nice guy that was. I don't even know 23. Luckily I, I learned to be a little bit handier, but not that much more, to be honest. I could do some things, but not carpentry.

[Samantha]

I guarantee you you did way better than I would have ever been able to do.

[Dave]

It was just so pathetic. I did not have the right tools. It was just such a. It was a really good learning experience. But also aside that people are really cool most of the time.

[Samantha]

Oh man, that's a cool story.

[Dave]

Do you have any uplifting ones, man?

[Samantha]

Absolutely. So in this case, we had a tenant who is a convicted Felon. He spent 12 years in federal prison for a non violent drug charge. Before he applied to live in our place, he had spent over $700 in application fees. So every time he tried to find an apartment, he'd have to do an application fee just for them to tell him they're not going to rent to a felon, even when they would tell him he's a felon beforehand.

[Dave]

I hate that. I just, I hate when landlords like use applications as a revenue stream. It's not a revenue stream.

[Samantha]

No, it's terrible. And so the way we found out about him was through my wife's counselor. My wife's counselor was his prison therapist at one point. And so we reached out to him and when we first talked to him, he just sounded so down and out because he had spent so much money and no one would rent to him. And he was concerned that he wasn't going to have a good place to live. And, you know, in his eyes, he had. He had served his debt to society, which he had, and he just wanted. Needed a place to have a good start so he could go to work and. But he was spending all of his money on these application fees. He's running out of money. He just felt defeated. And so we did tell him that he needed to apply because we did need to see his credit and his background check. And he applied and his story completely checked out. Everything he told us that we would see, we saw. It wasn't any. Clearly he was. He was being upfront. And when my wife told him that we would rent to him, he started crying. He was, oh, wow. So thrilled that someone was going to take a shot on him. And he promised us, like, swore up and down. He was like, I'm not going to let you down. And it's been three years now. He's been our tenant and he called us recently, last week to tell us he was getting married.

[Dave]

Oh, wow.

[Samantha]

And he's just been great and he's just. He always pays on time. There's never any issues. He doesn't complain about anything. And then it's in a duplex and the tenant next door is a little old lady who is, you know, very old. And we inherited her and we just didn't want to put her out because she was a little old lady on disability. And so we've kept her in there and he goes and he mows her side of the yard and his side of the yard and makes sure that she doesn't have to do any of those things. He's just been an amazing tenant who needed somebody to take a chance on him.

[Dave]

That's so. That's so great. I mean, did you have doubts when you were. Agreed to rent to him?

[Samantha]

I mean, yeah. I mean, you know, things like that can be scary because you never know, you know. But he seemed genuine. It was the fact that he seemed so down and out. Like, it was hard to fake that. Like, you know, I feel like somebody who was looking to take advantage of a situation wouldn't be down or bummed about that situation. Like, he was just genuinely saddened that people weren't having any Faith in him, and so we gave him that shot.

[Dave]

That's awesome. Well, good for you. I think that's super important because people like that don't have that many options and. Sounds like you read him as a human being. Well, there's some things that come up on a tenant report, but just meeting and talking to someone will tell you something totally different.

[Henry]

Different.

[Samantha]

Absolutely.

[Dave]

Well, thanks for sharing that story, Henry. That's a very nice story to end on. I appreciate you telling us this. I mean, is that your experience that most of the time tenants are pretty cool?

[Samantha]

Yeah, I mean, we've got a lot of tenants, and most of them we don't have any issues with. It's very. It's a select few that we end up having issues with, and it's either people we've inherited or people where, you know, we just read the situation wrong. But a lot of times, man. Man, when situations go bad, you know, life just. Life starts life into people, right?

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Samantha]

Even though you can. You can pick a good tenant who ends up in a tough life situation, and then things can go south, man, it's. It's hard to always just remember that, yes, you are running a business, but these are people, and people have people problems. And sometimes you just got to put yourself in their shoes and remember that it's not always most important to make the best, best business decision. We try to make the best people decision, and sometimes that costs us money, and we're okay with that.

[Dave]

Well, I would say sometimes you don't make the best financial decision, but that can be a good business decision. You know what I mean? Like, it depends on the kind of business you want to run. And I totally agree that you don't necessarily need to make the most profitable decision, but sometimes good business is just being reasonable with your tenants. They need to get out of the lease, let them out of the lease. You know, you need to do cash for keeps. Sometimes that's just what you got to do. I don't know. For me, it lets me sleep at night. I don't stress about it as much. If I could just, like, be a reasonable human being. And maybe that makes you lose some money in the short run, but I actually think over the long run, it just. That kind of stuff comes back to you positively. And so that you're going to find tenants who are going to stay longer, who are going to take care of your place if you just, you know, put that good intent out into the world and into your business.

[Samantha]

Couldn't agree with you more.

[Dave]

All right. Well, thanks for sharing the story. Let us know if you like these types of tenant stories. If so, we'll rack our brain and come back with some more fun, horrible, uplifting stories for all of you here on the BiggerPockets podcast. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you next time.

[Henry]

Thank you all for listening to the Bigger Pockets Real Estate Podcast. Make sure you get all our new episodes by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Our new new episodes come out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm the host and executive producer of the show, Dave Meyer. The show is produced by Ian K, Copywriting is by Calico, Content and editing is by Exodus Media. If you'd like to learn more about real estate investing or to sign up for our free newsletter, please visit www.biggerpockets.com. the content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. And remember, past performance is not indicative of future results. Bigger Pockets Elo, LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential or other damages arising from a reliance on information presented in this podcast.